Iran judges to carry guns after spate of attacks

Reuters: Iranian Judge seriously wounded in fourth attack on judiciary official in four weeks

Iranian judges are to carry handguns from Monday after a judge was seriously wounded on Sunday in the fourth attack on a judiciary official in the last four weeks, officials said.

Tehran’s criminal prosecutor Fakhroldin Jaffarzadeh said the latest shooting meant judges would have to be armed.

“All judges from prosecutors’ offices will carry firearms from tomorrow and, in case they feel in danger, they are licensed to shoot,” he told the ISNA students news agency. READ MORE

Judge Mohammad Reza Aghazadeh was fighting for his life after he was shot in the eye outside his Tehran home on Sunday morning, Justice Minister Jamal Karimirad said.

“I hope God helps us keep him alive,” he said.

The motive for the shooting was not immediately clear, but the IRNA official news agency said Aghazadeh had been presiding over a major land transaction near the industrial city of Karaj, just west of Tehran.

It was also not clear whether the shooting was linked in any way to attacks on three other judges.

Judiciary officials said one judge was stabbed to death in the south of the country earlier this month, while another was disfigured by acid thrown into his face.

Hassan Moghaddas, a judge who jailed several reformist dissidents, was shot dead in his car on Aug. 2.

A Web site said an armed opposition group opposed to Iran’s clerical rulers claimed responsibility for Moghaddas’ killing.

Jaffarzadeh said the judiciary had not determined who killed Moghaddas, so it was impossible to know whether that murder was related to the attack on Aghazadeh.